Government intrusion is nothing on game gods'

The more I read about Singapore, the location for last week's State of Play conference on virtual worlds and the poly-media metaverse, the more I realise that the politics of online games and virtual worlds are awfully similar to its infamous system of Big Brother-esque governance.

According to Lonely Planet, since Singapore became independent of its northern neighbour Malaysia in the early 1960s, consecutive leaders have tightly observed the social behaviour of the people, regulating it through policies resembling "social engineering dreams". After two days of conference sessions about the regulation of and social behaviour in virtual worlds, some clear parallels emerged.

For example, it quickly became obvious how much information the so-called game gods collect: everything. And while we'd like to think that these spaces are libertarian autocracies, as Professor Richard Bartle, co-developer of the very first virtual world, explained, they are in fact benevolent dictatorships. The gods have the power.

A case being heard in the US between Second Life resident Marc Bragg and developers Linden Lab demonstrates this. Bragg, who owned approximately $3,000 (£1,500) worth of virtual land, discovered a loophole in the land auction processes and proceeded to buy thousands more acres at knock-down prices. Linden Lab discovered that he was gaming the system, banned his account and took away all his land.

And what happens with all the stuff recorded about players if game and virtual world developers have so much power? When pressed by conference organiser Professor Dan Hunter, There.com CEO Michael Wilson said the company is cognizant of the records it keeps in to watch for any nefarious activity. Linden Lab says it wipes all of its data after eight days.

Sony Online, publisher of EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, apparently keeps records indefinitely. But what about Microsoft's Xbox Live? Blizzard's World of Warcraft? How about Google, which recently filed a patent for a technology that will mine gamers' searches in order to target relevant in-game advertising?

Under European law, we have the right to ask what kind of data is being collected about us. But these companies aren't European, so does our right still remain? These questions go beyond complaining to the game gods about the inflation and deflation of virtual properties. No longer simply the realm of the popular fantastic, our movements in entertainment and social spaces are being observed by the people who at the minute we simply must trust to do right.

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